The present invention relates to a lever-type connector.
A conventional lever-type connector is described in JP 3-126379. This lever-type connector has a male and a female connector, the female connector having a rotatable lever provided thereon. The lever has a pair of plate-shaped arms that extend along outer faces of the female connector. The lever is rotated when cam grooves of the arms and cam pins of the male connector are in an engaged state, the cam operation drawing the two connectors mutually closer and fitting them together.
In conventional lever-type connectors, the fitting resistance between the two connectors is focused at the mutually fitting portions of the cam grooves and the cam pins. As a result, the arms may separate from the outer faces of the female connector. That is, these arms may change shape so as to move outwards. In the conventional lever-type connector described above, protecting walls are formed on the outer faces of the female connector, and the arms are housed between these protecting walls and the outer faces of the female connector. Consequently, outer faces of the arms strike against inner faces of the protecting walls, thus preventing the arms from moving outwards.
As the number of terminal fittings in a connector is increased, fitting resistance also increases, and the force causing the arms to change shape and move outwards also increases. As a result, in order to prevent these arms from moving outwards, the protecting walls must be made more rigid. This may be done by thickening the protecting walls. However, if the protecting walls are made thicker, the female connector will become correspondingly larger.
The present invention has taken the above problem into consideration, and aims to prevent a lever-type connector wherein, without increasing the size of the connector, the arms of the lever are reliably prevented from changing shape and moving outwards.
According to the invention there is provided a lever-type connector comprising a housing having a lever pivoted thereon, said lever defining a cam groove for engagement with a cam follower of a mating connector whereby rotation of said lever relative to said housing causes said connectors to be drawn into engagement, wherein the housing includes a protective wall extending partly over said lever to prevent bending thereof in a direction perpendicular to the plane of movement thereof, characterized in that a thinned portion of said lever corresponds with a thickened portion of said protective wall.
Such an arrangement ensures that the overall size of the connector is not increased. In the case of a plate-like lever, the thinned portion is located furthest from the pivot axis, and the thickened portion is located adjacent a connecting web of the protective wall. Such an arrangement minimizes the stabilizing force by applying it at a distance from the pivot axis.
Preferably the thinned and thickened portions are in close mutual engagement.
In a preferred embodiment the thinned portion is about half the thickness of a plate-like lever, and has a radial extent of less than 20% of the corresponding radius of the lever.